Hazard returned to play last night after just over a month without doing so. Seen what has been seen, it will be difficult to see him again on the green soon, and the culprit will not be Ancelotti. More can not do the Italian for him. Carlo wanted to save him effort by changing the system. 4-4-2, with Rodrygo and Valverde in bands, and Eden accompanying Benzema in attack. Second striker position with freedom to fall to the wings. More regulated efforts for a player in clear decline that modern football has run over. Ancelotti will never recognize that, as the elegant and educated guy that he is, but it is the harsh reality of the Belgian: «Hazard has done his thing. He had difficulty because they closed the lines inside and neither he nor Benzema had the chance to play in that area, as we did in the first leg. I think he has complied. I have made the change to add freshness. He was planning to change in advance at 55 minutes, because he had a powerful and energetic bench ».
The Belgian no longer has the spark, the change of pace or the verticality that made him one of the best footballers in the world at Chelsea, and in his national team. He makes her want to, that’s unquestionable, but his legs and his mind are already exercising their profession in slow motion. In 2022, that trot is incompatible with elite football. It must be difficult to be signed by Real Madrid to become their franchise footballer and see how your career fades season after season without any reason to remedy it. It is difficult to remember five actions of Hazard in his four seasons in white in which the play improved. Normally, he makes it worse or equals it. And he is aware of it. Surely, it is impossible to see the best Hazard again, like him yesterday he did not see a good Madrid.
«We have played badly, and this sometimes happens. We controlled the first half without being effective, but since his goal everything has changed because we lost our balance. We have tried everything, without playing well, but showing that Madrid never gives up. We are qualified for the round of 16 and this, on a night that looked bad, is a good thing. Only those who go through to the round of 16 can win the Champions League,” Ancelotti reflected. «We have not been as fine as last week. We have lost balls easily and it has cost us one on one. What a week ago went well, not today. But this is the Champions League and we know that these games exist,” he said. Kroos. “The big difference has been the success with the ball, it has been difficult for us to create plays on the inside as we did in the first leg at the Bernabéu and they become strong on the counterattacks with the speed of their forwards”, analyzed Lucas Vázquez.
The point in Warsaw was not the only one that Madrid took from the Polish capital. Rudiger, in the saving goal of 95, his forehead was opened and they had to put 20 stitches next to his left eye. Today he will undergo medical tests to find out if he has any bones in that fractured area, although in principle he does not seem to be and his presence in the classic is not in danger: «He is fine, conscious, smiling and happy for the goal. He wanted to enter the field, but he realized that he was injured », Ancelotti said.
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